......And All That Jazz

Grant Boyd-Gibbins is by nature an entrepreneur. At first converting redundant Budapest factories to sleek contemporary offices, he has now turned his hand to developing an entire Croatian village into a health resort. With a little help from his friends, who happen to own an hotel chain, and the European Union Development Fund, we have no doubt that his latest speculation will become a successful reality one day.

Dorottya Udvar, a former textile factory, developed by Grant Boyd-Gibbins

And in the meantime Grant has another, more social venture, closer to home. As a founder member of the Jerry Lee Lewis inspired GGGBOFFC, Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire Film Club, his idea is to provide on a monthly basis a social setting for English speakers who share a love of art cinema.

entrance hall to the Budapest Jazz Club, home also to GGGBOFFC each month

So, with the promise of a dinner, wine, lively conversation and a surprise film, we made our way, with our friends Paul and Gil, to the Budapest Jazz Club. Housed in the former Hasenfeld House of 1875, in the delightfully cobbled Múzeum utca, a stone's throw from the National Museum, the Budapest Jazz Club provides an exciting venue for all manner of cultural activities......and Jazz music!

staircase of Hasenfeld House, the Budapest Jazz Club, with bust of Kossuth

The walls of the Club are adorned with 'Jazz Greats', Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, either as black and white photographs or full scale murals. A sweeping marble staircase carries visitors elegantly to the first floor, the nicotine of decades of smoking has tanned the walls of the bar, Thonet type bentwood furniture fills a downstairs room and plush sage velvet armchairs, somewhat sagging at the seams, create the perfect ambience for a private cinema in Room 9.

interior  showing murals in the Budapest Jazz Club

The seventy or so GGGBOFFC guests were as eclectic as they were engaging. A fast talking blonde Canadian, a zany Brazilian wearing an equally zany shirt, a cut glass accented George, a charming Dominic, the gregarious Grant and his delightful wife Eszter, lawyers, venture capitalists and green activists all made for sparkling conversation and not a little laughter.

a selection of stills taken from Sam Mendes 1999 film 'American Beauty'

The film, 'American Beauty', proved to be an excellent and entertaining choice. A debut film by Sam Mendes in 1999, we believe that it will stand the test of time, as indeed it has done to date, as an iconic example of the best in American cinema. And, some days later, we are still asking, "Is 'American Beauty', and all that it stands for,  like its namesake rose, prone to rotting away at the roots? Are all teenagers terrifying?  And who exactly did kill Lester Burnham?".